Corona: The big cleanup after the pandemic

Created: 01/14/2023, 06:00

By: Hans Moritz

There were up to 50 contact investigators in the Corona peak phase.

The district office temporarily rented rooms in the town hall for them.

© Timo Aichele

The contacts of people infected with the corona virus have not been tracked by the authorities for months.

Nevertheless, the 28 remaining Contact Tracers are not running out of work.

What do you do?

And which rules still apply?

Erding - Protection against infection and fighting pandemics with the telephone receiver: The contact investigators and tracers, the so-called contact tracers, did important work in the first two years of Corona.

They called the contact persons of infected people and also sent them to quarantine or for a PCR test.

They also kept in touch with those affected.

This should slow down the spread of the SarsCoV2 virus.

They are no longer needed for this task, but the contact tracing team is still there.

There were up to 50 contact investigators at the peak of the pandemic in the Erding district.

They were hastily hired or made available by other authorities, such as the tax office and the police, as well as by the German armed forces.

Since April 2022, however, the contact persons of corona infected people have not been tracked.

District office spokeswoman Claudia Fiebrandt-Kirmeyer reports this at the request of our newspaper.

Nevertheless, 28 contact tracers are still in the service of the health department - in the premises in the Widmann-Palais at Langenzeile 10.

And what do they do all day?

"Currently, the documents from case processing and follow-up are being reworked and digitized with regard to data protection and deletion regulations," reports Fiebrandt-Kirmeyer.

In addition, the contact tracers are involved in the care of the Ukraine refugees, for example as companions for appointments in the clinic.

According to the spokeswoman, they also support the health department with infection protection, as well as with the processing of the flu cases, which have risen sharply this year.

In other counties, the contact tracers are part of the corona vaccination campaign, but not in Erding, according to Fiebrandt-Kirmeyer.

Incidentally, there are no costs to the district.

“The 28 workers are employed by the government of Upper Bavaria.

The employment is limited until June 30.” The government does not plan to extend it.

But not everyone has to look for a new job at the half-year mark.

Fiebrandt-Kirmeyer reports that some contact tracers have applied to the district office for another job and some have already found a new job.

Since March 4, 2020, a good 76,000 SarsCoV2 infections have been registered in the district.

The number is now of little importance because many infections are detected in private rapid antigen tests and those affected then stay at home until the test is negative again.

Covid-19 is still considered a notifiable infectious disease.

In the district alone, the pandemic has so far claimed the lives of 222 people, according to statistics from the health department.

Even if Corona has lost its terror, some rules still apply, even if they are gradually being reduced.

For example, masks have no longer had to be worn in Bavarian local transport since December 10, 2022.

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach announced on Friday that the mask requirement in long-distance transport would probably be lifted on February 2nd.

However, the recommendation to wear a mouth and nose protector still applies.

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And these rules are still valid: infected people older than six years without symptoms must wear a mask.

They are only exempt from this if they can keep the minimum distance of 1.50 meters, also indoors.

In addition, those who test positive are not allowed to enter medical facilities, old people's, nursing and disabled facilities, homeless and refugee accommodation or prisons.

The only exception: visiting and accompanying the dying.

There is also a ban on employment for infected people in these areas.

However, there is one exception: If you have no contact with people who are particularly at risk there, you can also come to work infected.

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